The Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Tuesday issued a safety alert after the first confirmed case of silicosis within the state’s stone countertop fabrication workforce.
Silicosis is a preventable, yet incurable and progressive lung disease caused by inhaling crystalline silica, which is found naturally in granite and other stones.
State health officials say the first confirmed case was recently diagnosed in a Hispanic man in his 40s who, for the past 14 years, worked for stone countertop fabrication and installation companies in Massachusetts…